In the case of such an animal, its head commonly comprises a snout which projects relatively forwardly of the ears, a poll which is disposed relatively behind the ears, and a jaw which interconnects the snout and the poll at the bight of the animal's head. A halter for the head of such an animal commonly comprises flexible strap material which is formed into a pair of first and second loops that are adapted to be encircled about the animal's snout and poll, respectively, and the second of which is alternately openable and closeable and operatively interconnected with the first loop, crosswise of the jaw, so that when the second loop is opened, the halter can be removed from the animal's head in the direction relatively forwardly of its snout. To facilitate opening and closing the second loop, the loop is commonly in two parts and closeable by fastener means which are positioned between the parts and manually releaseable so that the user can reopen the loop when he desires to remove the halter from the animal's head. Examples of two such halters can be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,099,398 and 3,566,454.
Halters equipped with manually releaseable fastener means such as those seen in the foregoing patents, have the shortcoming that the user must use both hands and allow considerable time to release the fastener means before he can separate the parts of the second loop and remove the halter from the animal's head. Moreover, the animal may not cooperate with him in the process, and in fact, the process itself may sufficiently disturb the animal that he will disrupt it by movements of his head, including movements upward of his poll, where the operation is taking place. These movements may also have the effect of raising the level of the animal's head and poll above the ground, so that the fastener means are even more difficult to reach from a standing position on the ground. On the other hand, if the animal's head is restrained by securing it to a point on the ground, such as to a tie rail thereabove, the animal's head movements may add considerable strain to the strap material of the second loop and prevent the user from releasing the fastener means, particularly if the operation has a step of providing slack in the second loop at the time the operation is conducted on the animal.
One object of the present invention is to provide a halter which is free from these shortcomings, and in particular, one which is equipped with fastener means that are self-operating once the user has actuated the operation by a simple touch of the hand, such as by a trigger-like touch with one or more fingers of the hand. More particularly, the invention has the object of providing a halter which is equipped with fastener means that literally explosively disengage or "pop" apart from one another once the operation has been triggered by the user's hand. In this way, the user need only trigger the operation with that hand, and his other hand is free to assume a different position, such as one in which it is used to restrain the animal, for example, by means of a lead line attached to the first loop of the halter. In fact, the user can also use this latter hand to effectively "snatch" the halter from the animal's head at the same time as he uses his first hand to trigger the release of the fastener means. As a consequence, the halter can be effectively removed from the animal's head in a moment's time before the animal is even aware of what the user has in mind for him.
The invention also has the related object of providing a halter which is equipped with means whereby the second loop can be infinitely adjusted in circumferential length, and cinched about the animal's poll without the necessity for unfastening anything to do so. More particularly, the invention has the object of providing an elongated strip of strap material in the second loop which is continuous and uninterrupted circumferentially of the loop, yet capable of being adjusted circumferentially of the loop to assume an infinite number of lengths within the loop. In this way, there is no need for a joint within the strip at which to make an adjustment in its length, and no need for extra strap material with which to make the adjustment at the joint. Nor is there any need for holes or the like in the strap material with which to make the joint, such as is the case with a conventional pin and hole buckle joint. In fact, the strip can lie flat and unbroken on the animal's poll, such as over the flanks of the same, and after it has been cinched up, it will present no free end to flap about and distract the animal, nor anything to snag on objects external of the animal, nor anything he can use as a means for loosening the loop, nor anything that will fray and tear because of the existence of holes or some other break in the continuity of the strap material.